January 20, 2013

It will be a full day of basketball intrigue and talent Monday in Berkeley in the Martin Luther King Jr. Classic at Haas Pavilion at Cal.

Bee ranked No. 5 Sacramento plays Bay Area power Bishop O'Dowd of Oakland at 3:45 p.m. in a meeting of young Dragons.

Sacramento coach Derek Swafford regularly plays five freshmen, including 6-6 forward Devin Young, the team's leading scorer at 12 points per game. Sacramento lost to Deer Valley 97-96 in overtime earlier this season and beat Bishop O'Dowd 86-85 two seasons ago in the MLK at Haas.

O'Dowd this season features 6-9 sophomore post Ivan Rabb, who averages 16 points, 14 rebounds and 7.5 blocked shots a game and is viewed as the top sophomore in the land, following in the big steps of recent Bay Area big men talents such as Mitty of San Jose's Aaron Gordon and Deer Valley's Marcus Lee.

Other highlight features Monday at Haas:

* Palo Alto (15-1) vs. De Anza (13-7), 10:30 a.m. - Palo Alto is where Jim Harbaugh played his senior season of football and hoops (yes, he frowned in those pictures, too). Palo Alto has long been a power in basketball and are off to another rousing start. Aubrey Dawkins averages 18 points and 7 rebounds.

The 6-4 senior guard is the son of Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins, having scored 26 or more in four of his last six games.

* Analy (12-6) vs. Campolindo (11-5), 12:15 p.m. - Campolindo has a win against Bay Area power El Cerrito, though also coming off a tough loss to MaxPreps NorCal ranked Dublin. Analy beat Campolindo in the North Coast Section playoffs in 2011 and are led this winter by guards Mohannad Halaweh and Gabe Greenberg-Pines.

* Salesian (15-3) vs. De La Salle (14-2), 5:45 p.m. - Salesian is the No. 1 team in Northern California, according to MaxPreps, a defensive power led by standouts Jabari Bird, Markel Leonard and Mario Dunn. A dynamic combo guard talent at 6-6 averaging 20 points, Bird is a Cal commit.

De La Salle has long been known as a defensive power under coach Frank Allocco, whose team this season features Arizona-bound guard Elliott Pitts and a rising freshman in Devin Asiasi. Pitts is one of the great scorers in DLS history, able to score inside and out. He could encounter Dunn of Salesian a time or two. He's endless energy and effort.

About the Prep blog

Bee staff writers Joe Davidson and Bill Paterson provide news, analysis and insight on the area high school sports scene in their Prep Blog. Have a question to ask them? Send them an email any time at jdavidson@sacbee.com or bpaterson@sacbee.com.